474 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1887. Time and vlace of Meeting. 



July 29.— Darke Co. Union, at Union City, Ind. 



J. A. Roe, Pec. Union City, Ind. 



Nov. 16-18.— North American, at Chicago. Ills. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec, Bogeraville, Mich. 



Dec. 7-9.— MichlKan State, at Bast Sapinaw, Mich. 

 H. D. Cutting, Sec, CUnton, Mich, 



^F" In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— Bd. 



S^^^^^^ 



The Solar Wax-Extractor.— Jacob 

 Wagner, Amana,ot Iowa, on July 19, 

 1887, writes : 



I have found the solar wax-extrac- 

 tor, described by Mr. G. W. Demaree 

 on page 343, to be of great advantage, 

 as I have made one according to the 

 description there given, and have 

 thoroughly tried it. It is capable of 

 melting any kind of combs in warm 

 weather, and I have melted as much 

 as 10 pounds in a warm day, and only 

 once changed the location of the ex- 

 tractor. The extractor is so simple in 

 construction that anybody able to 

 handle a saw and hammer can make 

 one in half-a-day. 



Poor Season— Cure for Bee-Stings. 



— Dr. A. Eastman, Union, 5 Ills., on 

 July 19, 1887, says : 



The honey crop is a failure here 

 this year, on account of the drouth, 

 I am afraid tlje bees will not get 

 enough honey to winter on. The fol- 

 lowing is my remedy for bee-stings, 

 which is ahead of anything that I 

 have ever tried or heard of : Pull out 

 the sting, then bathe with "ledum 

 palustre," or "marsh trefoil," the 

 strong tincture. 



Too Dry for Bees.— Dr. A. S. Has- 

 kin, Lawrence,? Mich., on July 18, 

 1887, writes : 



I put away 55 colonies last fall, and 

 this spring I had 17 of them left. 

 Bees are doing very poorly here ; we 

 will not have over one-fourth of a 

 crop this year, unless the fall is more 

 favorable than the spring and sum- 

 mer have been so far. The trouble 

 has been that it was too dry. 



buckwheat and fall flowers. I never 

 saw honey come in so slowly, and 

 consequently the bees are slow about 

 capping sections, and are stained up 

 some. There was a light shower this 

 morning. I have heard from two 

 other apiaries of 400 colonies, and 

 they report no swarms in one and 

 some honey, and the other has had 

 some honey and swarms. One apiary 

 of 175 colonies has had only 8 swarms, 

 but I did not learn how much honey 

 was taken ; the other had some 220 

 colonies, and has had only 13 swarms, 

 and 600 pounds of comb honey. 



Only Quarter of a Crop.— M. L. 



Spencer, Little Genesee,-o N. Y., on 

 July 18, 1887, writes : 



The honey crop in this locality Is a 

 failure— not over one-fourth 'of a 

 crop, if that. There was no white 

 clover to speak of, and what there 

 was seemed to produce no honey. The 

 forepart of the season was cold and 

 dry ; the latter part, hot and dry. The 

 bloom was burned up. Basswood 

 lasted but a few days, and that bloom 

 was fairly burned up. Next comes 



No Producers' Association Needed 

 this Year.— Eugene Secor, Forest 

 City, 5 Iowa, on July 15, 1887, writes : 



The prospect for honey is not very 

 good. There is no white clover sur- 

 plus. Basswood bloomed from June 

 24 to July 10; it was very abundant, 

 and all we have so far is from that. 

 At its opening there was scarcely a 

 pound of honey in a hive. If the fall 

 is favorable we may have goldenrod 

 and thistle honey. The Mississippi 

 Valley is suffering for want of water. 

 In this vicinity crops are fair in spite 

 of unfavorable conditions. The spring 

 wheat and oats harvest is just begin- 

 ning. The season is about two weeks 

 ahead of time. Judging from my own 

 knowledge, honey is not going to 

 flood the markets next winter. I do 

 not believe that we will need a " Pro- 

 ducers' Association " to keep prices 

 up. 



Re-Naming Extracted Honey.— E. 



F. Smith, Smyrna,© K. Y.. on July 

 1887, writes : 



In regard to the extracted honey 

 controversy, I am sorry to note the 

 unkind and unjust criticisms of Mr. 



G. W. Demaree, which have lately 

 appeared in print. When Mr. Dem- 

 aree suggested the name "liquid 

 honey," for honey out of the comb, no 

 doubt he did so without weighing the 

 matter fully, and when the hydra- 

 headed obstacle, " granulated " or 

 " candied " (liquid) honey arose, it 

 knocked his new name " higher than 

 a kite." Mr. D. should have at once 

 dropped his new name, and acknowl- 

 edged the unfitness of it. May I sug- 

 gest the names " combless honey," or 

 ex-comb honey V Say I then bought or 

 sold honey as follows : Ten pounds 

 of comb honey at 15 centj, $1.50; 10 

 pounds of combless honey at 10 cents, 

 $1.00— total, $2..50. 



l.ever had any doubts about their 

 being such a disease, I certainly am 

 not in doubt now. The odor from 

 this brood is foul indeed ! The bees 

 seem somewhat languid, and are not 

 disposed to work. They appear to be 

 discouraged, and yet they are in a 

 healthy condition, so far as I am able 

 to judge of their physical condition. 

 The young bees are perfect in appear- 

 ance, and all uncapped brood are ap- 

 parently healthy. The foul brood 

 and the healthy brood seem to be 

 about evenly divided, and run in 

 streaks and patches. I spent some 

 time yesterday in examining this 

 putrescent condition with my micro- 

 scope, and I have no difficulty in find- 

 ing myriads of bacteria. I have 

 placed some of this foul brood in the 

 hands of Mr. James Peterson, of this 

 city, who is an experienced micro- 

 scopist, and has given the " germ 

 theory " of disease many years of 

 careful study. I have requested him 

 to give me in detail the result of his 

 observations. I hope to be able to 

 send something from his pen in a few 

 days. 



" Clear" Honey, etc.— F. D. Nagle, 

 South Haven,? Mich., on July 13, 

 1887, says : 



As it is suggested to have a change 

 of name for extracted honey, I propose 

 the name " clear ;" that is, honey free 

 from comb. But I care not what 

 name it may have, just so that it may 

 sell better than it has in the past. The 

 honey crop has been very light so far. 



Foul Brood Appearing.- L P. Wil- 

 son, D.D.S., Burlington, o^ Iowa, on 

 July 14, 1887, writes : 



A few days since, my friend J. W. 

 Ward, of this city, called at my oflice 

 and said : "I have foul brood in my 

 apiary. You had better examine 

 your colonies. I thought I had better 

 give you warning at once, etc." He 

 then called on Mr. Geo. Bischoflf, and 

 delivered to him the same message. 

 Mr. Bischoff and I both examined 

 our bees in the evening, and sure 

 enough, the scourge had come, and if 



Convention at Chicago.— Arthur 

 Todd, Philadelphiao^ Pa., on July 15, 



1887, says : 



If at all possible I want to go to the 

 convention at Chicago, but any date 

 earlier than Oct. 16 to Oct. 20 conflicts 

 with the county and State Fairs that 

 I want to go to with honey. The 

 best Fair in all New Jersey is the last 

 of all, and is generally Oct. 14, or 

 thereabouts, ilany others may want 

 to attend Fairs, so Oct. 18 to Oct. 22 

 would seem to be the best date. 



Fertilization of ftueens. — T. F. 



Kinsel, Shiloh,(5 C, asks the follow- 

 ing: 



1. When queens mate, are the 

 ovaries impregnated by copulation? 

 If not, what is V 



2. A queen — to all scrutiny, perfect 

 — lays " drone eggs " exclusively ; 

 what is the trouble '^ 



[1. In mating, the spermatheca, a 

 small sack appended to the ovipositor 

 or egg-tube, is filled with the sperm. 

 Leuckart, of Germany,estimated that 

 this sack would contain, when freshly 

 filled, 25,000,000 sperm-cells. We see, 

 then, why the queen needs to mate 

 but once. These active, thread-like 

 sperm-cells are peculiar in that they 

 retain their vitality or activity even 

 for five years ; and so long as active. 



